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2005 Toyota Tacoma Stereo Upgrade – Aftermarket Head Unit Install with Auxiliary input for iPod/MP3 player

UPDATE 10/11/2010: This stereo got stolen a couple months ago and I’ve replaced it with a JVC KD-R810. I wrote a new post about that installation process with more detailed instructions and new after pictures: My 2nd Toyota Tacoma Stereo Install

The Tacoma’s stock receiver does not have an auxiliary input and there’s no way I was going down the FM transmitter route so it was time for a head unit upgrade. Here’s a quick look at my installation of an aftermarket stereo/radio/cd player and auxiliary input for an mp3 player, Ipod or any other audio playing device in my Tacoma. The install isn’t too bad so if you want to breath new life into your Tacoma’s stereo on the cheap then this is a great little project.

Dash Kit Info: I got the Scosche TA2052B Single Din from Amazon, there’s also a double DIN version.

Head Unit Info: I got a Pioneer DEH-P4800MP, but it is discontinued now which is too bad since the finish matches the dash kit almost exactly. I keep looking, but haven’t found anything with as good of a color match.

If you want to buy new, these Pioneer units have a bit of the lighter silver color and have received good reviews: Pioneer DEH-P5000UB , Pioneer DEHP4100UB, Pioneer DEH2100IB.

This is the stock stereo I had to work with. The trend has been towards completely integrating the stereo into a car’s dash, it looks great but as soon as you want to install an aftermarket stereo in you might be stuck. The aftermarket dash kit is color matched to the silver around the vents.

Stock stereo in 2005 Toyota Tacoma

Step 1 – Rip out climate control, unbolt and remove dash and stereo, unhook everything.

Rip out the stereo and connected trim

Step 2 – Wire up the wire harness so you don’t have to cut any of the factory wiring.

Wire harness all ready to go

Step 3 – Hookup stereo and test to make sure everything works before putting the whole thing back together.

Testing before putting it back together

Step 4 – I’ve got everything in and just need to stick the climate control panel back on. Getting the head unit and hazards/clock panel into the replacement dash was the most time consuming part of the whole project. First I couldn’t get the hazards panel out of the stock dash but managed to pry it out after an hour. Secondly, the installation instructions for the dash kit were pretty brief, I guess you can consider a diagram and a few unintelligible sentences instructions. At this point I had also drilled a hole in the back of the pocket to feed the cable for the auxiliary input through.

Almost done

Finish – With everything put back together I actually like the look of the replacement dash kit more than the original bumpy texture.

Finally done with the install

Audio quality is much better after a little EQ’ing and I can now hook up an Mp3 player. New speakers would be a nice upgrade, but the new head unit really helps the stock speakers come alive.

Not a terribly difficult project and I’m glad I did it myself instead of paying an installer a good chunk of change to do it. I probably got lucky since most dashes aren’t this accessible and easy to work with.

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Looks like I’m getting married

Sarah and I have been dating for over 5 years and I’ve been working full-time for the past 6 months so I decided that it was time for us to begin to take the next step in our lives together so I popped the big question Saturday night and she said yes of course. So in short here’s how it happened:

She had been watching me like a hawk and was waiting for me to go buy the ring so I knew I had to be quick about it. I called up her dad Saturday a little before 11am, asked his permission and his help in going down to the jewelry district to a jeweler their family goes. He parked his car at the police station and I picked him up to avoid any suspicion. Went downtown, bought the ring and headed back home to continue “getting my oil changed and putting a new stereo in my truck”. Getting my oil changed was a lie but I did but a new stereo in my truck. Back in town by 12:30pm.

2:00pm rolls around and jeweler calls, diamond has been set and the ring is sized and ready to go. Head down to downtown again with my dad this time, pick it up and back by 3:30pm. At this point Sarah thinks I’ve gotten my oil changed and am now just working on my truck and is a little bitter that another Saturday has gone by without me going to get a ring. So she is clueless at this point that I have in my possession her engagement ring.

That night we were scheduled to go to separate holiday parties, Job’s Daughters for her and little get together at the Clutterham’s for me. This also worked out because when 10:45pm rolled around I had an excuse to come by and see her and go for a little drive to talk and show off my new stereo.

I pick her up and start driving towards the Embassy Suites (our first kiss was in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites) and parked. At this point she has a suspicion that something is up but her belief that I have no ring misleads her and keeps the element of surprise in my favor. I ask if I should put in a CD and begin to reach into my center console. As I do this I tell her that I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her. I then bring out the open ring box from the center console and ask if she would marry me. I got an immediate yes followed by hugs and kisses and to my surprise took well over a minute to actually look down at the ring.

I was forced into proposing in this spontaneous manner because trying to do anything else (my actions were under extreme scrutiny) would have completely ruined the surprise and I can’t think of another way I would have rather done it.

proposal1.jpg
My happy new fiance

proposal2.jpg
I have to figure out why I get squinty eyes when I smile

proposal3.jpg
3 stone princess cut setting in white gold

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Latest Life Distractions

Took a little blog hiatus but here’s a rundown of what has been going on with me

  • Work – Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is awful, sometimes I’m just there for the money
  • Residence – Turns out Tim H needed a roommate and I am able/ready to move out of my parents house, so I am tentively moving the first week of December into the house complex were Mike and Allison live off of Alameda/Paramount
  • Church – Been spending a little more time on sound to hopefully reduce my time obligations on Sundays. Tim and I have got a team of new trainees going to help run things on a weekly basis and I’d be in more of a supervisor role
  • Programming – My WordPress plugins have been steadily growing in popularity which means more people ask for support (check em out over on the right if you have no idea what I’m talking about). I need to overhaul the plugins to get ready for the upcoming WP 2.1 release. I also have ideas for several more plugins and a whole other website I want to start.
  • Gaming – I’ve been playing some PC games in my spare time, the Wii looks tempting but I’ll probably wait till after Christmas before making a decision on it.
  • Reading – I’m on book 3 of the Dune series and I’m loving it. It isn’t your typical “Star Wars” sci-fi and has a lot of great philosophical/political/religious aspects to it. I’m also waiting for the 5th book of the Storm of Fire and Ice series to be released.

Guess that is it for now.

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New Wedding Pics are up

Last weekend Sarah and I crashed my brother-in-law’s sister’s wedding. Previously I have had 2 chances to take photos at weddings with my Nikon D70, one at Lori and Angelo’s with the on board pop up flash and then at my brother’s wedding with my newly acquired SB-800 flash on the hot shoe. First time my results were adequate but really didn’t look much better than a point and shoot. Second time around my results were much better but I still hadn’t really grasped some of the basics like balancing background exposure and fill flash.

This time I’m definitely more pleased with the results and it is easy to see, here are the latest pics.

Paul and Grace’s Wedding (10/7/2006)

And for quality comparison:

Nathan and Stacie’s Wedding (7/9/2005)

Lori and Angelo’s Wedding

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DIY HD Tivo

Well not exactly like Tivo, but close enough. I had gotten tired of trying to tape shows or download them after they had showed and I wanted a better way to do things. Being the practical person I am (it also helps that I’m cheap) I decided to turn my computer into a High Definition Personal Video Recorder (HDPVR). I had been watching shows on my computer for a while and thought why not make the process easier and get better quality at the same time. Tivo would be nice but I’d rather not have to pay a monthly fee to get full functionality and I’m looking towards the future and an HD tv.

I decided on pulling down over the air (OTA) high definition because I don’t want to pay for TV and 90% of the shows I care to watch are broadcast for free. Next I bought a HD tuner card, VBOX DTA-150 ATSC HDTV receiver, and ran coax from our rooftop antenna to my room. The funny thing is you don’t need a special antenna to get HD signals but they’d probably try to sell you an “HDTV” antenna at one of the big box stores. I hooked up the 20-30 year old antenna on our roof and it works great.

Next I had to decide what software to run to manage and schedule all of my recordings and playback them back. I started off with GBPVR, open source, and it worked ok but I just wasn’t very satisfied and had to fuss with it. I looked at the commercial offerings, I didn’t want Microsoft Media Center so I tried the trial of BeyondTV. Wow, what a difference and the nicest thing about it is that it works great with minimal configuration. Trial was only for 21 days and it was reasonably priced, but they were throwing in a decent Firefly RF remote for free for a limited time so I bit and ordered it.

In this process I also found out that an hour of uncompressed HD video can take up about 6-8 GB on the hard drive so I had to order a new 250 GB Western Digital SATA drive to expand my 160 GB storage capacity to about 400 GB.

So I pretty much have all the functionality of Tivo for a fraction of the price, considering the new HD Tivo they just released is well over $600, plus the monthly $13.